"People were halfway down the stairwell, it just stopped, the alarm stopped. And we heard gunshots coming from the first floor, the second floor and people were running upstairs. We all got upstairs and into our classroom. As (my teacher) was closing the door he was actually shot and killed right there. The door was left open the whole time so as (the shooter) walked by, the door was open. He could have walked in at any time. "

'I heard shots'

A boy told WPLG he heard shots about 20 minutes before the end of school. Everyone headed outside to their appointed meeting areas.

"At 2:19 p.m. I heard shots (others say the alarm and shots came later). We ran outside. No one knew anything that was happening because the fire alarm already went off that day in second period. So (during the afternoon alarm) everyone was messing around. Once we heard (the shooting) we were running outside. We were going in our zones; we have certain zones that we have to be in. I started hearing like six gunshots like far away, but I could still hear them clear as day. And as soon as that ended, I told everyone we gotta go. We gotta run."

Sounded like firecrackers

A girl who gave her name as Isabella told WPTV the scene was very chaotic because of the blaring fire alarm, especially because it was going off just before the end of the day.

"I heard screaming. I heard about five, six gunshots. We thought they were firecrackers because it sounded like them. We weren't sure what was used. We heard the police yelling. We heard banging on the doors."

Never heard the shots

A girl who had evacuated for the fire alarm said there were several hundred students who never heard the gunshots. They didn't think much of it until police cars showed up at the school, Sarah Chadwick said.

"I never thought something like this would happen, especially in Parkland, Florida. We're known for being one of the safest cities in Florida. My whole class ... evacuated (during the fire alarm) and went to the back of this big field that we have. There were a lot of us there, about 200. Then all of a sudden we see tons of cop cars. We see cops coming toward us, security on golf carts coming and that's when teachers and security guards and cops were telling us to run (to a nearby Walmart). We didn't hear them from that far away but as the gunshots were happening some of my friends were texting (from) classrooms right near the gunshots."